DeSantis’ flailing campaign courts evangelicals as pastor says congregation is 'split' between him and Trump

13 July 2023

July's presidential polls have not been looking good for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

A Morning Consult poll released on July 11 finds DeSantis trailing Donald Trump by 39 percent in the 2024 GOP presidential primary. And an Economist/YouGov poll released around the same time found Trump with a 26 percent lead over the far-right MAGA governor.

But a lot could change between now and 2024. According to Politico's Sally Goldenberg, DeSantis is hoping that "Iowa evangelical leaders" will ultimately put him ahead of Trump in that state's Republican presidential primary. The Iowa Caucuses will be held next year.

"The Florida governor and his super PAC have been feverishly working the religious circuit in the nation's first caucus state, trying to capitalize on Donald Trump's unleashing of vitriol against the state's Republican governor, Kim Reynolds," Goldenberg explains in an article published on July 13. "Now, DeSantis has his best chance yet to appeal to this influential voting base and try to rewrite his campaign's narrative amid lagging poll numbers and a barrage of increasingly negative headlines. On Friday, (July 14), he will address The Family Leader, an influential Christian organization that draws a large crowd of conservative pastors."

Goldenberg points out that the pro-DeSantis super-PAC Never Back Down "has spent more than $4 million so far on ads" in Iowa, where Trump "remains far ahead" of DeSantis in polls.

Evangelical pastor Mike Kalstrup, who is with the Fellowship Church in Oakland, Iowa, believes that DeSantis' campaign has strong possibilities with the Religious Right in his state.

Kalstrup told Politico, "Within the church world, there are many that do like DeSantis quite a bit. My guess is that he's probably going to have a pretty strong showing in Iowa."

Another Religious Right evangelical, Mike Augsburger — the main pastor for Soteria in Des Moines — told Politico, "My pulse on Christian evangelical voters is that they're split somewhere between Trump and DeSantis. And in my circles, people are leaning more toward DeSantis because he seems to be more authentically conservative. If DeSantis can get his message out there, I think he can be a draw for evangelical voters."

DeSantis has been attacking Trump on abortion, claiming that the former president isn't anti-abortion enough. Trump has been telling far-right evangelicals that Roe v. Wade would not have been overturned were it not for him, but reportedly, he has been privately expressing concerns that the abortion issue could hurt Republicans in 2024 just as it did in 2022.

Last year, Democratic gubernatorial candidates aggressively campaigned on abortion rights in key swing states — including Michigan's Gretchen Whitmer, Pennsylvania's Josh Shapiro, Wisconsin's Tony Evers and Arizona's Katie Hobbs, all of whom won. And right-wing firebrand author Ann Coulter, a DeSantis supporter and abortion opponent, believes that draconian anti-abortion laws have become a major liability for her party.

On April 4, after liberal Janet Protasiewicz enjoyed an 11 percent victory over far-right Christian nationalist Dan Kelly in a Wisconsin Supreme Court race, Coulter tweeted, "Pro-lifers: WE WON. Abortion is not a 'constitutional right' anymore! Please stop pushing strict limits on abortion, or there will be no Republicans left."

Politico's full article is available at this link.

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